Outreach

1,105 outreach programs with 32,740 contacts

Question, Persuade, and Refer

Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) training, a community based, nationally recognized, and empirically grounded suicide prevention program for students, faculty, and staff. 1072 students, faculty and staff were trained as QPR Gatekeepers. This important initiative was made possible in large part due to grant funding and individual donations made to the Counseling Center.

Participants of QPR training were asked to evaluate elements of the program on a Likert scale where 1 indicated "poor" and 5 indicated "outstanding."

The instructor’s demonstration of thorough knowledge of the subject matter. | 4.74

The degree to which the course provided practical applications for your work. | 4.81

Overall value to you. | 4.61

Quotes from QPR Gatekeepers:

How I plan to use skills I learned from Question, Persuade, Refer:

"In my work with survivors of interpersonal violence/sexual assault."

"Any time I know one of my friends is hurting or struggling with something I can use this to help make sure they stay safe."

"I know that I and anyone else has the power to save a life so I will take this training and be on the lookout for anyone in need."

"It will help de-escalate situations in which residents of University Housing are contemplating suicide."

Brothers of Sigma Pi present Angel Bowers with a check for the Suicide Prevention Fund.

Digital Outreach and Communication

The utility of meeting students through digital platforms has never been more important, which became even more abundantly clear in 2020.

The Counseling Center website at counseling.dasa.ncsu.edu received 224,561 page views (increase of 20%) from 82,627 unique users (increase of 23%).

Social Media outreach expanded this year with a focus on information, intervention, and inspiration for students. Our current social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and seek to connect and unite our campus community around events and stigma reduction.

During the last year,

Counseling Center Facebook page “likes” increased to 1317 likes (13% increase)
Twitter followers increased to 751 followers (48% increase)
Instagram followers increased to 1300 (224% increase)

The Center’s social media outlets posted information weekly with notable campaigns including the “Mental Health Ambassador Monday,” “Wellness Wednesday,” and focus on in-house groups and outreach programming."

Mental Health Ambassadors: Effecting Change on Campus

The Counseling Center trained 34 NC State Mental Health Ambassadors. MHAs are peer educators who promote awareness of mental health issues and help students develop coping skills.

34 MHAs presented 109 programs, including continued partnerships with the African American Cultural Center, Multicultural Student Affairs, University Activities Board, WellRec and new partnerships with the Graduate School and Prevention Services.

All MHAs completed a 12-hour training to become Certified Peer Educators (CPE) and all passed the certification exam on the first attempt. MHAs were trained in and offered standardized programs on the following topics:

Introduction to the Counseling Center and how to refer a friend
Stress Management
Time Management and Study Skills
Healthy Relationships
Diversity and Multicultural Awareness
Anxiety and Depression Reduction strategies
Conflict Resolution and Healthy Communication
Assist with QPR (Question, Persuade and Refer) Suicide Prevention Program

More Outreach Highlights

The Counseling Center received a diversity mini-grant focusing on international students in 2018. This was used to create a video aimed at addressing the needs of the international student population. The INSPIRE video was completed this year and launched in the Fall of 2019. The focus of this video is to help connect international students transitioning to the US and seek mental health services if needed.
The Counseling Center was awarded the Advocacy for College Counseling Award at the American College Counseling Association’s National Conference. The award was specifically honoring the outreach efforts and the videos created in the #StoptheStigma campaign.
The Counseling Center made 5,209 students contacts at Campus Centers as part of outreach efforts. We continued to expand and strengthen our efforts to collaborate with our campus partners (including OIED campus centers) and other partners like TRIO, IEP, and OIS. Walk-in services are offered at the OIED campus centers (African American Cultural Center, GLBT Center, Military and Veteran Services, Multicultural Student Affairs, Women’s Center) with the purpose of increasing access to our services by groups that have historically been less likely to use the Counseling Center.

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